U.S. Agencies Consider Redefining Manufacturing

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y.—Should a company be called a manufacturer if it doesn't make what it sells? The answer isn't as obvious as it seems. Just ask Rich Cameron.

"If someone asks me at a party, I say we make binoculars," said the president of Carson Optical Inc., a small company tucked in an industrial park in this New York City suburb, adding, "It's a little bit more vague than saying we manufacture them."